Shoe jack



J. c. @www SHOE JACK Filed 001;. R0, .1.955

INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent'Oce SHOE JACK Joseph Clilford Gould, Wilton, Maine Application October 20, 1955, Serial No.` 541,622 Claims. (Cl. 12-123) This invention relates to a shoe jack.

The invention is more particularly concerned with a jack for use in the hand sewing of the Vamps and tips of shoes and a primary object of the invention is .the pro vision of a jack for this purpose which is flexible and is adapted for the turning of a shoe to the most convenient position for the sewing operations thereon.

A further object of the invention shoe supporting jack which is capable of use either in a standing or sitting position of a workman and which em-- bodies a last supporting structure devoid of projections which would catch the threads as the sewer draws them4 through the work.

Other objects and advantages of the .inventionwill become apparent in the course of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing whereint 'Y Fig. l is a side elevational View of the shoe jack inaccordance with a preferred structural embodiment thereof.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the jack.

. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan View of a swivel clamp plate assembly forming part of the jack structure and showing the swivel shaft in transverse section.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, B designates a bench from which the improved jack is preferably sup ported.

Rigidly secured to the vertical riser R of the bench is a pair of angle brackets 10, each of which includes a llange 11 which is secured to the riser R by means of bolts 12 and an outwardly directed flange 13 which is provided with a plurality (three as shown) of vertically aligned apertures 14.

The jack proper comprises a post 15 to whose lower end is secured a section 16, as by means of a bolt 17, and an aperture 18 is provided in the post and section as shown. A bolt 19 is extended through the aperture 18 and while same is shown as extending through the central apertures 14 in flanges 13, same may be disposed .in either the uppermost or lowermost apertures 14 for desired vertical adjustment of the post 15.

Suitably secured to the upper end of post 15 is a rear swivel plate 2li. A rod 21 extends through the post 15 and rear swivel plate 20 and also extends through the lower part of a front swivel plate 22 making provision for relative lateral movement of the plates.

A pair of combined brace and guard wires 23 have the opposite ends thereof hooked into apertures 24 and 25 in the post 15 and front swivel plate 22'respectively with the wires diverging upwardly as indicated in Fig. 2.

The rear and front swivel plates 20, 22 are provided with opposed circular recesses 26, 27 respectively, in which the opposite ends of a cylindrical swivel head 28 are disposed for rotation of the head about its axis and a bolt 29 extends through said axis of the swivel head and said rear and front swivel plates 20 and 22.

The said swivel head 28 is provided with a diametrical Fatented Aug.` 7, 1956 aperture 30 in which is disposed the lower end portion of a swivel `shaft 31 and through which the bolt 29 extends.

The upper end of the swivel shaft 31 extends through an aperture 32 in a swivel clamp plate assemebly 33 which is disposed at right angles to the shaft, as indicated in Fig. 1. The said aperture 32 is of greater diameter than that of shaft 31 and the upper end of the latter is provided with a head 34 of greaer diameterthan `that of the aperture 32 and from which head depends a skirt 35 rotatably engaged with the wall of thelaperture 32, as is clearly indicated in Fig. 3.

A washer 36 and spacer 37 are disposed between the swivel head and the swivel clamp plate assembly 33in surrounding relation to the shaft 31. The .shaft 31 extends through the said clamp plate assembly adjacent one end is the provision of a thereof, as indicated in Fig. l and the said assembly comprises a plate 38 which is split from the aperture 32,as indicated in Fig.` 3, and a bolt 39 is extended through the split portions of the plate for adjusting the frictional rotation of the skirt 33 in the aperture 32.

A block 4i) is secured to the lower wall of the plate 38, as by means of screw bolts 41 for the purpose of rigidly securing an end of a lever arm assembly 42 in an aperture 43 in the opposite end of the clamp plate assembly. The said lever arm assembly comprises .a rod 44 which adjacent said swivel clamp plate assembly is provided with a threaded section 45' on which is threaded a nut 46.

` A sleeve 47 is loosely disposed on the rod 44 and a coil spring 48 is disposed between the nut 46 and the sleeve 47 in surrounding relation to the rod 44. The said rod .includes a gooseneck end portion 49 and a cylindrical end member 5@ in acute angular relation to the main body portion` of the rod, as is'clearly vindicated in Fig. 1.

` A bifurcated lever member 51 ispivotally connected to the outer end oi member 50 by means of a pin 52 extending through the furcations of the member 51 and the said member Sil and a second pin 53 extends through the said furcations beneath the member Si) and is engageable with the gooseneck portion 49 under the action of spring 48 with the sleeve 47 engaged with lever member 51.

An inverted U -shaped last arm 54 has one leg 55 there of threaded into the outer end of lever member 51 and the other arm 56 thereof is adapted to engage a last for a shoe whose toe portion is engageable with a toe plate 57 which is pivotally connected to bly 33, as indicated at 53.

The .improved jack as disclosed is usable by a sewer either in a standing or a sitting position, in which latter the jack is preferably supported between the legs of the sewer.

It is to be particularly observed that the structure offers no prominent projections for the catching of thread as has been an objection in prior jack structures.

The flexibility of the jack makes it possible to raise either side or the end of a shoe for access to the part which the sewer is working on. In hand sewing operations, threads several feet long are used, which means that a sewer must form large loops at the start of a seam. Due to the fact that the present jack is much more compact than those now in use, it is much easier to avoid catching of the loops on the jack.

Since the spring 48 of the present jack supplies tension to the lever member 51 by means of a push rather than a pull by the spring, the spring is less liable to breakage with a consequent incapacitating of the jack.

While l have disclosed my invention in accordance with a single specific structural embodiment thereof, such is to be considered as illustrative only, and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being defined in the subjoined claims.

the clamp plate assem- What I claim and desire to secure by U. S. Letters Patentis:

l. A shoe supporting jack comprising a post whose lowenend isllpportable from a bench, means carried by the `upper end of said post for rotative movement about an axis, means supported by said iirst means for rotative movement about an Iaxis at right angles to said first axis, and yieldable means carried by said second means for removably supporting a shoe last, said lower end of said post being disposed between a pair of angle brackets secured 'tofsaidbeneh, said post being provided with a pivot bolt, an-d said brackets being provided with a plurality offvertic'ally spaced apertures'for `selectively receiving said bolt for vertically adjusting the jack. l

2. A shoe supporting jack comprising a post whose lower end is supportable from a bench, means carried by the upper end-of sa'i'dpostlfor.rotative movement about an axis, means Asupportedby said first means for rotative movement about an axis at right angles to said first axis, yieldable means carried'by said second means for remov ably supporting a shoe last, rea'r and front swivel plates supportedby said post, each of said plates having a circular recess therein and said first means comprising a cylindrical head Whose opposite ends are seated in said recesses, sai-d rear swivel plate being rigidly secured to said post, Ameans supporting said front swivel plate for adjustablemovement toward and from said rear swivel plate, and brace meansbetween said front swivel plate and said post. Y

3. A shoe supporting jack comprising a post whose lower end is supportable from a bench, means carried by the upper end of said post for rotative movement about an axis, means supported by said rst means forrotatve movementabout an axis at .right angles to said first axis, yieldable means carried by said second means for removablysupporting a shoelast, a swivel shaft extending upwardly from saidrst means, said secon-d means comprising a swivel clamp plate `assembly whose one'end is rotatable about said shaft, and means for 'adjusting said swivel clamp plate assembly for providing variable resistance to rotation thereof about said shaft.

4. A shoe supporting jack comprising a post whose lower end is supportable from a bench, means carried by the upper end of said post for rotative movement about an axis, means supported by said first means for rotative movement about an axis at right angles to said first axis, yieldable means carried by said second means for removably supporting a shoe last, said third means comprising a rod whose one end is rigidly secured to said second means, a lever ymember pivotally connected to the other end of the rod and connectable with the shoe last, a sleeve on the rod engageable with said lever member, a coil 'spring on saidrod, one end .of the spring engaging said sleeve, and means on said rod for adjusting the tension in said spring.

5. A shoe supporting jack comprising a post whose lower end is supportable from a bench, means carried by the upper end of said post for rotative movement about an axis, means supported by said first means vfor rotative movement about van axis a't right angles to said iirst axis, yieldable means ycarried by said second means for removably supporting a shoe last, said third means comprising a rod -whose one end Yis rigidly secured to said second means, la lever member pivotally connected to the other end of the'rod and counectable with the shoe last, a sleeve on the rod engageable with said lever member, a coil spring on said rod with one end engaging said sleeve, and a toe -plate disposed above and pivotally connected to said-second-means.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 698,636 Draper Apr. 29, 1,902 1,253,461 Borden Jan. l5, 1918 FOIRE-IGN 'PATENTS 647,364 France v July 30, 1928 

